


Cake Publicity (The Greatest Cap Cake Remix)

by navaan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bakery and Coffee Shop, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Gen, Gen Fic, Humor, Remix, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-08-02
Packaged: 2018-07-26 11:43:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7572850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve bakes delicious muffins and it's Tony's idea to turn that into their next big Avengers PR event.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cake Publicity (The Greatest Cap Cake Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [guineamania](https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Cake Collaboration](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5439341) by [guineamania](https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/pseuds/guineamania). 



> You can also read this story and comment on it on Livejournal [here](http://navaan.livejournal.com/292425.html). Feel free to friend or contact me there.

Like so many harmless things this started out as a joke. Steve was used to things in his life to get out of hand, but usually thing getting out of hand led to him punching bad guys in the face and throwing his shield around to defend the free world. And there was no defending involved in what he was doing now. He had no idea what he was doing now, to be honest. He stared at all the numbers and stacks of paper, realized that there was flour all over his hands and the whole room smelled like chocolate cherry pie. It just added to the atmosphere of feeling out of his depth.

There were no bad guys to defeat, but Tony assured him every day that they were doing good.

And he was having fun, when he wasn't in here worrying over the supply orders necessary to keep their newest project going. “I’m so not made for this,” he muttered.

Sam just walked in without knocking. While he wasn’t grinning, he looked like he was barely keeping himself from a very smug grin. The fact that Steve had ended up their leader in this venture as well remained an endless source of amusement for him. He'd called him Captain Cake for three days in a row when this started, until Tony had coined the phrase Capcake. “Hello, old man. How is your life as a business man going today?”

“It’s a hassle.”

“Well, you’re living the dream.”

“Apparently we all are.” He threw a significant look towards Sam, who was wearing his red and white work clothes. Even four days in, Steve thought that was hilarious. The weren't usually wearing matching uniforms, not as Avengers, but here they were. “How is it going out there, Sam? Holding the line?”

“A bit of commotion. Fans scrambling to get pictures of Avengers appearing behind the counters. The Black Widow Latte is sold out and people love the newly named Capcakes, Capcake.”

“Hilarious,” he said.

“Oh, I’m sure our terrific investor is going to think so. Nat told me to warn you he’s on the way.”

Steve looked at all the numbers and lists in front of him and shook his head. He was smiling, but he wasn’t sure whether he was feeling exasperated or amused. “Remind me never to tell Tony any details of my family history ever again.”

His friend shrugged. “I’m having fun. People are going to tear down the shop trying to get our autographs, but it’s for a good cause.”

“Yeah,” Steve said. “For a good cause.” He tried to keep that in mind when the numbers got to scary. Their cakes were selling – well, like hot cakes, really. And to think that it had all started with a careless comment he'd made at breakfast.

_“My mom loved cake”, he’d said, when he’d made muffins for breakfast. “She always took me to that one bakery where she’d worked for a short while and it never failed to make her smile. I think she would have loved to own her shop.”_

_“That’s a sweet, Steve.” Natasha stole one muffin from the plate as she walked by. “You haven’t tried my secret cheese cake recipe yet, though. I could have owned my own shop.”_

_It earned her a few questioning looks at the time, but they were soon to find out that she wasn’t joking._

_At the time Tony was sitting at the table, silently eating his own blueberry muffin and listening to them, seemingly distracted or lost in thought. He didn’t say anything until he caught Steve watching him with the hint of a smile. At the time, Steve was thinking there weren’t enough of these relaxed team meetings, when no tension sprung up and no threat was looming. “My dad told me lots of stories. I can’t remember the one where Captain America loves baking. And I'm pretty sure I would remember that one. That would have been my favorite story of all time.”_

_“Don’t think he knew. It’s not like that would have made a good propaganda story at the time. And I was preoccupied with other things. Not much time to show off my skills in the kitchen.”_

_The muffin was half gone, but Tony was now regarding what was left of it as if it was holding a special secret. Steve had seen him look at armor parts in that way. Perhaps he was doing calculations in his head. But then he cleared his throat and said: “This is really good, Cap. You realize that people would love the story of baking Cap today? Human side of a supersoldier. All very relatable and unexpectedly sweet. Big man with a soft muffin side.”_

_He laughed._

_“No really.” Tony swung the muffin around as if it would make the point for him._

_He shrugged. “Too bad I’m only showing my skills in the Avenger’s little team kitchen.”_

_The bright smile Tony gave him then should have prepared him for the next words. “How about you run an Avenger’s cafe for a month? We could really use some positive headlines right now.”_

_“Very funny.”_

_“No, no,” Tony interrupted immediately, the idea catching fire. “It would be hilarious and the public would think it adorable. Think about it! Bakery hero! Cakes for charity! Making the world better with cake!”_

_“Come on, you can’t be serious, Tony?” It was a hilarious thought._

_“I can’t believe that you’d think I would joke about something as serious as cake. And aren’t you the one who always says we should do more teambuilding exercises? This would work as PR event and teambuilding exercise. All profits go into charity. Everybody wins. This is going to be great.”_

He still had no idea how Tony had manged to convince him; convince all of them...

“Alright, Sam,” he said and spared a glance for the small room he was sitting in. This wasn’t really his office. At the beginning of the next month the team of people they were working with right now would be taking over this little bakery all by themselves with the help of a Stark Industries start up loan and someone would make this a real office. “Tony’s on his way. Time to rally the troops. Someone call in Natasha and tell Scott to man the front. He’s good with the crowds.”

“And also the least likely of us to be dragged away by a bunch of screaming fans. On it.” 

He watched Sam go, wondering silently how he could still be grinning while their little PR stunt had turned into a full time business venture. “I had no idea that running a business is like leading an army corps.”

“Tell me about it,” Pepper Potts said as she took Sam’s place inside the door. Tony, wearing sunglasses and having his hands stuffed deeply inside the pockets of his expensive dark blue suit, was standing right behind her. “Tony wanted me to see the Avengers charity project. I can’t believe you’re owning a bakery for a few weeks, Captain Rogers.” 

“Steve, please.” Raising himself from the chair he held out his hand to shake hers. 

“How is it going, Cap? The place looks like a battlefield.” Tony pulled his sunglasses away and his eyes were twinkling. Perhaps he was enjoying the role of investor a little too much. “Pepper is here to place an order. We need some cakes and sandwiches for a Stark Industries product presentation. She thinks our little bakery won't manage. Tell her, Avengers can do anything.”

“Anything but paperwork,” Steve said with a sigh and smiled at Pepper. “I’m sure we can make you a deal. We just got an order for the mayor’s birthdays cake and we're coping.”

* * *

To Steve’s surprise Tony actually hung around, instead of just waving to the people waiting for their Avengers themed cupcakes and lattes and vanishing back into his own life. “Troubles with bookkeeping?” he asked.

“I’d rather punch someone than spend the rest of the day going through all these lists and forms and projections.”

“Well, you’ll need flour to have people bake all these delicious Capcakes, so we should perhaps at least finish this. Someone needs to make a decision on how much to order. And you seem to be the one with the highest rank in this outfit.” He saluted.

He chuckled. “You are so full of it, Mr. Investor.”

“I can look at this stuff if you want.”

“Really?”

“Look, Steve, just because I don’t really have an interest in being my own CEO, doesn’t mean I didn’t learn how to do business. Believe me I did. Had to. I even built my own little company when I was still in college and that ran well. Dad was not amused. He bought out my partner, because he wanted me to return to the fold. Figure that.”

“Really?” It sounded like something that the Howard he knew would have found admirable. 

“Drama,” Tony said and spread his hands out in a gesture that could mean anything. 

He watched while Tony drew another chair closer and sat down, sorting through some of the slips and papers Steve had spread out across the desk. For the sake of banter he should be accusing Tony of being the one who got him into this mess in the first place, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit calmer, now that his friend was here, offering to help with more than the initial investment and surrounding media work.

Tony whistled appreciatively. “The charities are going to love this. You should quit the superheroing and do this full time.”

Cap laughed. “I make you a deal: I personally go down to put some muffins in the oven and give them an Iron frosting just for you. You can have the whole tray as long as you look at this stuff.”

“My pleasure doing business with you, Captain America.”

“This whole teambuilding thing seems to be working out nicely.”

There was some commotion outside, probably coming from the shop, but he could hear Natasha’s clear voice and then Clint and Sam, and all sounded calm. People clapped.

Apparently things were under control. 

Perhaps with Tony here he would even be brave enough to dive into the fray later. People were here because they wanted to see the Avengers wearing aprons after all. He would absolutely make Tony wear one. He was going to make sure there were pictures of it _everywhere_. Clint had made him a facebook account for occasions like this, after all.

* * *

“You’re in charge of this start up company Don't fuck it up. The mayor wants to see you three personally,” Clint stated calmly and nodded at Steve, Tony and Nat.

Steve sighed and cleaned his hands on his already dirty apron. “Please say that is a good thing.” He hadn’t been nervous around politicians for years. Apparently when it was about cake then that changed everything.

“Stop worrying, Rogers.” Nat bumped his shoulder with a fist. “We’ll all be there.”

“And our cake is the best,” quipped Sam. 

“This was certainly the weirdest mission anyone every set me.” He grinned at Tony who shrugged and tried to look innocent.

“Mr Stark, always good to see you. Nice to see all of you for something other than alien invasions and clean-up.” The mayor greeted them warmly, shaking Steve’s hand first. “Quite the impressive publicity stunt. Superheroes running a bakery right here in my lovely city.”

“All for charity,” Tony cut in.

“Of course, of course.”

“And we’re going back to avenging shortly.”

“A shame really, Mr. Stark. My daughter loves the Capcakes. Really how did you make this work?”

Steve smiled. “We’re a team. You can do anything as a team.”

The mayor nodded, pictures were taken, more hands shaken. 

“I can’t wait to go back to avenging,” Steve whispered.

Tony laughed under his breath. “You’ll regret saying that when all hell breaks louse.”

He laughed, but thought: _No, I won’t._ It had been nice to do something not related to avenging for a while. But whatever happened, he would be with these people. Baking or avenging, they would always be a team.

 _Good job_ , he thought. _The teambuilding was definitely a success._

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on [tumblr ](http://navaan.tumblr.com/). This fic has a post [on there](http://navaan.tumblr.com/post/148647966959/fanfiction-mcu-cake-publicity-the-greatest-cap) in case you want to comment/review/reblog there. [My ask box](http://navaan.tumblr.com/ask) is open if you have questions.


End file.
